3.30.2008

Spring Bingo layout

The Scrapdango blog has a fun challenge up! I got a BINGO with this layout! Check it out and you might be a BINGO winner! :-)

3.29.2008

Need advice

Each year, I allow myself one paid subscription to a scrappy magazine. (Sometimes I cheat and buy a twofer if I really like the magazine, which really has nothing to do with my story. LOL) Since I'm mad at CK, last year I chose Paper Crafts. (which, turns out, is a subsidiary or sumthin', but again, aside from the point...) Flash forward to this year and my subscription runs out. They keep sending me the little notices, and I just throw them away.

The other night, my phone rang at 9 p.m. and the caller id says Ebsco Ind. :shrug: Don't know them, but answer the phone anyway. A man on the other end says "I'm so and so calling on behalf of Paper Crafts, and want to offer you a special deal..." He gives me the whole schpiel and I say no thank you. His whole tone was very condescending from that point on. He says "I don't understand why you think its smarter to buy it on the newsstand for $4.99 when you could pay just over $1. per issue now." When I started to explain how rude his tone was, HE HUNG UP ON ME! :-O A TELEMARKETER hung up on ME!

So, I've been fuming over this for two days. My first thought was "it'll be a cold day in hell before I EVER buy Paper Crafts magazine again." As I started piecing the facts together for my letter to Paper Crafts, the thought occurred to me that the caller id showed up as Ebsco, so I did some quick research. (Gotta love the Internet!) One of Ebsco's many services is telemarketing for magazine renewels. Okay, so, my beef is with Ebsco, right? And now, instead of having to write ONE letter, I'm having to write TWO. On the other hand, maybe thats a smart business decision on Paper Crafts part, to hire a telemarketing company that uses high pressure tactics to get renewels.

Maybe the moral of the story is that next time, I should actually use the caller id. I didn't recognize the number and shouldn't have answered. On the other hand, when you have 4 teens who are out of the house at any given time, you can't just IGNORE calls, KWIM?

I'm still very upset about the tone that the TELEMARKETER (which I'm sorry, I don't hold them in very high esteem ANYway) used when he called ME. So, I ask you, my scrappy friends, what would YOU do???

3.28.2008

My "Pink" card

I used color selection on my photo editing program to make the pink blossoms on my tree stand out, and Doodlebug rub ons for the title and row of flowers. :-)

YITL challenge #13

PINK

Post the link to your card here when you're finished. I can't wait to see your cards! :-)

3.27.2008

My resolution

...was three-fold: 1. Be creative 2. Simplify 3. Be positive

Being creative is easy. In the past, I've been creative when time allows. This year, I schedule time for myself. Its my reward to myself for being a good wife, a good mom, a good daughter-in-law, a good teacher. That's not to say that my mojo follows my schedule, but if nothing else, I sit in my room and stare at my stuff. LOL

Simplify. This has required me learning to say no. With four busy kids all wanting to go in different directions, I've learned to schedule and sometimes, the answer is just no.

That last one is a doozy for me, since I'm naturally a pessimist. I do think that everything happens for a reason, so instead of seeing the negative of a situation, I try to look right away for a silver lining. I'm still working on this.

The good news is that we're only 1/4 of the way into the year, so we still have lots of time to succeed! How's THAT for a silver lining? :-D

3.26.2008

Blog challenge # 13

Did you make a resolution for the New Year? If so, what is it and how are you doing three months into the new year? If not, why not?

3.23.2008

My "Time" card

Ha! Get it? Time card? Oh alright... LOL Sometimes I need a reminder that I am the master of my own fate. :-)

3.21.2008

YITL challenge #12

TIME

Post the link to your card here when you're finished. I can't wait to see your cards! :-)

3.20.2008

Shaped paper

I'm loving my shaped paper! I have hand cut all of these using name brands as templates. The fiber Spirelli's are courtesy of Colleen. She sent them to me for my birthday and they were PERFECT for these pages. Thanks Colleen! :-)







And here's one I did today using the actual Making Memories paper, but not before cutting a permanent template. :-)





Thanks for looking and be sure to check back tomorrow for the YITL challenge word! :-)



Our refrigerator

always has lots of leftovers in it because Glen cooks for an army of people. With 6 of us in the house all the time, (and sometimes 7, if Megan is home from college, or if we happen to be feeding childrens friends, etc) we go through a LOT of food. Because we shop a lot and in large quantities, our refrigerator has a tendency to be full all of the time. With so many people in and out of the refrigerator, we have pretty much given up on it being organized. LOL







Here's a layout I did last year about our beloved refrigerator. :-D


3.19.2008

Blog challenge # 12

Open your refrigerator and take a photo of the inside. (yes, post it! and no fair cleaning it first! LOL) Write a poem or paragraph about it.

3.15.2008

Spring is here, hopefully to stay!

LOL The butterfly totally looks like a kindergartener did it, right? Oh well, spring is my favorite time of year, even though my allergies kill me. But to me, it signifies new beginnings. Everything is so beautiful! :-)



3.14.2008

Card creation

Check out the card I just made for a challenge on 123-Scrap! I hardly ever try new techniques and love the way they turn out the first time, but now I just want to make these flowers all day! LOL I hope you'll join me in the birthday fun they'll be having all weekend! Oh! Did I mention there are prizes? C'mon! You know you wanna! :-D




YITL challenge #11

SPRING

Post the link to your card here when you're finished. I can't wait to see your cards! :-)

3.12.2008

Surprise!

I hate surprises! No, wait! I love surprises! No, wait! "I" hate surprises. But I LOVE to surprise other people! I'm sure this says something about me... LOL

The biggest surprise I ever pulled off was during a crop that I was hosting. The crop previous to the one I hosted, I had had a "Flat Shirley" made. She sent me a photo, which I had enlarged to poster size and then I cut it out and mounted the silhouette onto a cardboard. We toted Flat Shirley around with us EVERYwhere and yes, people thought we were crazy. She rode a train with us and had her "hand" stamped, went to the restaurant with us and watched over us while we cropped. She even posed for the group shot with us! Fast forward to the following year and it was time to bring out Flat Shirley. I placed Flat Shirley at the door to greet people as they arrived. As they came in, they laughed, as some of them remembered Flat Shirley from the previous crop. But THIS time, guess what! I flew the real Shirley in from NJ, so she was there to greet the croppers as well! It was hilarious to see the double takes, as the real Shirley stood next to the Flat Shirley! Here are a few of the pics from that time. SO FUN!!!


This is the Shirleys, greeting the croppers. :-)



Yes, this is the real Shirley, hanging out of my sunroof, flashing passersby. She is a NUT!



Flat Shirley wanted to wear a Walmart vest when we made a pit stop. LOL



Blog challenge # 11

Surprise! Write about a time you were surprised and why you do or don’t like surprises.

3.11.2008

What's my style?

Carrie on ScrapDango challenged us "Has your style evolved over time? Are you a trend-setter? Do you follow the pack? Conservative? Wild? Do you love bling? Are you more practical? Write about your style with regards to fashion, your home, your art, or all three."

I guess you could call my style eclectic. I tend to decorate and scrap the same way... using whatever strikes my fancy at the time. I don't mind trying new things, but I'm practical overall, and comfort is the top priority. A couple of months ago, I posted a photo of a piece of art that hangs in our living room: a painting done by an elephant. Other than the fact it was painted by an elephant and hangs in a room decorated primarily safari style, it doesn't "go" with the rest of the decor. But I love it because its unique, so hang it does. :-)

I've always tended to decorate in themes. When I was a young adult, everything in my first apartment was wicker. Wicker everything! I even had a wicker hanging basket chair. LOL When dh and I got married, we went with a southwest motif and even made a trip to New Mexico to buy blankets, art, etc. Our coolest piece was a Navaho prayer wheel (mandala), which we later found out was used for fertility purposes. Yep, it worked. LOL

I feel sure that when people come into our home, it makes their heads want to explode. Shoot! It makes MY head want to explode sometimes! LOL But Martha Stewart I'm not. There are lots of colors and a mish mash of different types of furniture, but its comfortable for my family and mostly clean and tidy and that is the most important thing. :-)

3.08.2008

7 things about me

Christine tagged me. UGH! Y'all KNOW I hate this game. But I love Christine and her answers made me laugh, so I thought I might do the same...

1. I've cooked exactly THREE meals since Nov. 4th. Don't ask me how I know that. LOL
2. Like Christine, I totally don't follow my eye doctors orders with wearing contacts. I hope my doctor is not reading.
3. Like Christine, I have a gym membership, which I have NEVER USED, NOR WILL I EVER. HELLO! Exercise is not in my job description!!!
4. I have a fabulous collection of jewelry that I never wear, not even my wedding ring. Too lazy, I guess.
5. I go lawn surfing on a regular basis and only a handful of women actually have photos of this, which they might not even remember because hopefully they were too drunk to remember they took photos. LOL
6. Some people take my blog entries very seriously and go out and spend oodles and gobs of money based on them. (You know who you are! LOL)
7. I will never, ever, ever be on a design team again. Can't make me. :-P

Okay, I'm done. I am not going to tag anyone, but if you want to play, I'll read! :-)

3.07.2008

How does my garden grow?


Not very well! I have a brown thumb, and while I thought about making my card about that, a much prettier version was done by using the Valentines Day card that my Gram sent me. :-)


YITL challenge #10

GARDEN

Post the link to your card here when you're finished. I can't wait to see your cards! :-)

3.05.2008

My junk drawer

Here it is, in all it's glory! Sure, I'm a little embarrassed, but everyone has junk drawers, right? RIGHT??? I really don't have any idea what alls in there... wires, cords, nails, safety pins, and umm, a cassette tape? Ya, we don't even HAVE a cassette player anymore. Guess I can pitch that. LOL But what if I NEED a cassette tape for something someday? I'll know just where it is! :-D



Blog challenge # 10

Fun junk! Open a junk drawer...it's probably in your kitchen, your garage or your desk. Post a photo of one item that's been there for a long time and explain why you haven't thrown the item away yet OR post a photo of the whole drawer and talk about how it came to be a junk drawer and what kinds of stuff go in there.

3.04.2008

Say hi to Robert!

Or Robbie, as he's better known in our house. :-) Lets see, he started off as Megans friend, then Ethans, and now he's just Robbie. He comes over to debate politics with Glen and I and misguided though he is, he IS awfully cute. LOL He's just started his own blog, so could you go over and say hi to him for me? Who knows, maybe you even like that sort of thing (debating). He loves it, so don't be shy! :-)

3.02.2008

New layouts

I did a couple of challenges from ScrapDango this weekend. The first one was for Lisa's challenge; an all white layout. FAINT! This was quite the challenge for me, but I love how it turned out!




For this one, I used a sketch by Tara, and Carrie challenged us to use decorative scissors. FAINT again! LOL

Thanks for the challenges, ladies! :-)